Machine for making links for chains



M. O. REHFUSS. MACHINE FOR MAKING LINKS FOR CHAINS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. I4 I9I9.

M. o. REHFUSS. MACHINE FOR MAKING LINKS FOR CHAINS'.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. I4, 1919.

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Patented N0v. 23, 1920.

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,MANN

M. 0. REHFUSS.

MACHINE FOR MAKINGLINKS FOR CHAINS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. I4, |919.

1,360,020. rammed Nov. 23,1920.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

M. o; REHFuss.

MACHINE FOR MAKING LINKS FOR CHAINS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. I4. I9I9.'

Patented Nov. 23, 1920,

M. O. REHFUSS.

MACHINE FOR MAKING LINKS FOR CHAINS.

APPLlc'ATloN FILED MARA-1. 1919.

1,360,020, PmaNov. 23,1920;

5 sains-SHEET s.`

narran 5T resi PATENT Price.

MARTIN o. HEHFUss, or HHIIJADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, AssIGNoR To UNITED sTATEs CHAIN AND -TGHGING coivIPANIz, or HTTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, A

CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

MACHINE non MAKING LINKS non. CHAINS.

Specicatenvof Letters ,Patent Patented NV, V23, 1920,

Application filed March 14, 1919. Serial N0. 282,703.

To all whom t may concern: Y

Be it known that I, MARTIN O. RnHFUss, a citizen of the United States, residing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented Machines for Making Links for Chains',.of which the following is a specification.

One object of this invention isV to provide a. .novel succession of steps for so acting upon a previously cut length of wire or rod materiai as -to form therefrom a chain link whose abutting endsvhave their original circular section and flat terminal. surfaces, and thereby permit of said surfaces being brought practicallyy into full contact over their entire surface.

It is further desired to provide a relatively simple, substantial and commercially practical combination of parts for so operating upon a Vlength of wire or rod as to form therefrom a closed chain link without flattening or otherwise deforming its abutting endsz--the invention contemplating bending rolls of novel form together with novel mechanism for causing them to operate in a denite manner upon a length of material to be formed into avlink. i

I also desire to provide a-link forming Vmachine which shall include two setsV of members for bending a predetermined length of rod mater1al,w1th mechanism for actuating' these members in a novel mannerA with a view to so o eratin'p upon said material as to form a chain link whose" abutting ends `shall lie parallel and practically in contact with each other without beingdeformed by tbe operation of said members the invention contemplating the actuation of the link forming members with a view to causing them to act in a novel manner upon the material under treatment. Y

These objects and other advantageous ends I attain as hereinafter set forth", vreference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which, f' f -f Figure 1 is a side elevationV partly in vertical section, showing'the essential partsv of a machine constructed in accordance with Inv invention whereby my method of formfthe une aaarig. 2;

' my invention.

Fig. '4 is an inverted plan of the machine;

and.

l Figs.. 5,6 and Jare'fragmentary perspective views illustrating the ysuccesive steps in the formation of a link in accordance with In the above drawings 1 represents a base plate of substantial construction supported Y in any suitable mannerand providing upwardly projecting bearings 2 for a shaft 3 extending transversely over said base. The i latter also *provides or` supports a pairof downwardly projecting bearings 4 for a second shaft 5 parallel with the first andv un? derneath the base.

in timed relation to each other from any suitdetail construction constitutes no part of th present invention andV is therefore omitte.f"

0n the upper face of the base structlire It isto beY understood. that these shafts-are intermittently driven' 70 able sourcey ofpower by'mechanism whose 1T vand extending llongitudinally thereof,l I 1 i mount ai pair of parallel guides, designed for the reception of a slide having at its rear enda pair of upwardly projectingfsta'ndards orlugs 8 connected by a link 9 to an arm 10 fixed to the' shaft 3 and the" arrangement is suchthat anfoscillation of 'l this latter will cause the slide- 7 to be reciprocated.;" The forward end of the' slideihas. av downward,

extension 11 projecting through arsuitably placed lslot or onenind 12in the base structure and providing a bearing for two verti-k cal spindles 13 leach of which has an arml f fixedv toits lower end. The' free extremity of each of these armshas pivoted to it one end fof a'link'l whose second end rotatably fengagesfa post 16 .projecting downwardly from the-under side of a second slide 17V reciprocablein parallel .Q'uidewavs 18mountedf fo'n the under side ofthe'Y base 1.'-v

Foractuating this second .slidelTI fix-to 115 the lower shaft *.5 `an arm aand through a pairof' links 20 operatively connect said '-toa pairof lugs 21 on said slide; Asa re'. ls'ult of this' arrangement of parts the oscillation ofthe ,shaft' causes a reciprocation of the slide 17 in its guides 18vand throughthe two 'pairs'v of links714-15 causes a partial rotation in opposite. directions ofthe two vertical*spindles 13.'` :The upper ends' of' 'thesev spindles have integral substantially .fr

of each of these sides or walls is recessed as 'indicated at 24 and the spindles areV so -ing through the links to be formed.

mounted that under normal conditions, e'. e.,-prior to the beginning of a cycle of operations, their concave straight edges face each other.

Journaled on the upper face of the slide 7 isha pair ot bending rolls 25 whose peripheries are concaved or grooved to coliform to f the curvature of the rod to be operated on and they are positioned on said slide in advance of the spindles 13, being spaced at suoli a distance apart that their peripheral ooncavities are each tangent to the straight concave side 23 of the adjacent spindle 13 when said side is parallel with the longitudinal center line oit the machine. An adjustable stop or abutment 26 is provided to limit forward movement of theslide 7, and this consists of a flat plate having an elongated slot 27 for the reception of a clamping bolt 23 whereby itmay be .retained in any given position on the base 1.

Also mounted onV the base is a standard 29 having adjacent the central vertical 'longitudinal planeet the machine a guide` way 30 for a vertically movable head 31 whose lower end normally rests upon the upperv face vof the topV slide 7.` Said end has `a portion 32 constituting a king post having' a transversesection of the form which it is desired shall be given to the hole or open- The head 31 is vertically movable inthe guideway 30 :by hand or any mechanical device vforming no part .of theinvention and under operating conditions a rod orlength of wire ig. oi circular section, having flat ends and'oi the predetermined length is placed vimmediately baclr of the kingpost 32 of the head 31 and in front of the two Vbending rolls 25; its position being such and 5 is so timed that when beginning that it projects for equal distances on opposite sides of said king post.

The mechanism forv operating the shafts operations these are turned to predeltermined anglesv 4in opposite directions and at the same speed, thus causing both the 'slides 7 and 17 to be moved "forwardly in their 'guideways at the same rate so that there is no such 'relative movement between vthem as would cause rotation oit the'spindles .indicated in dotted lines/at, m1 in-Fig. Y6,

it being particularly noted that the mounting oi' the two rolls is such that they engage the rod at some distance from its extremities and bend its ends without in any way crushing or deforming them, while at the same time causing the middle portion of said rod to assume the curvature of the kingA post 32. The continued rotation of the two shai'ts 3 and 5 and the consequent forward movement of' the slides 7 and 17 then brings the projecting portions V22 of the spindles 13 into engagement with the side portions of the U-shaped rod which then ocoupiesthe relative position indicated at m2 (Fig. Y6). The stop 26 is so set as to prevent further forward movement of the slide 7 whenv this has reached the relative position indicated shown in Fig. 4t are oiroularly curved and designed to roll upon eachother as the Y spindles 13 are thus turned and as a result vof Vthrough substantially 90 from the position this .movement, which is continued shown in Fig. 6 to that illustrated in Fig.

7, the parallel ends oi the rod operated on are curved around the king post 32 by reason of their engagement with the ooncaved sides ot the projections22 so that their flat ends are brought parallel with each other and practically incontact; lt is to be particularly noted that by reason of the formation of these ends of the spindles 13 this desired 'object is attained without crushing or other deformation of the rod, which 1s thus given the desired form of a chain link as determined by the shape of the king vpost 32. 1

While the `shafts 3 and 5 remain idle theV head 31 vwiththe hing post '32 is raised, and .Y

Vthe formed linl is removed, after which the two shafits3 and 5 are turned in directions opposite those at Vfirst given them so that the slides are restored to their original positions shown in Figs; 2 'and 4 and the spindles 13 arel rotated vto bringther concave sides .23 of their? projections `22 from the alined position indicated in Fig. 7" tov positions substantially parallel with each other. The head 31 is now lowered until the'king post`32 engages the'top face of the slidef7, ya-iter which another length of rodl material is inserted bv hand or otherwise 'between it and the rolls 25, when the machine may again be put in operation to form another link. l l

-From the above description it will bel arranged and timed that the primary bending of the rod under treatment occurs at two points each situated at a distance from its end equal approximately to one-quarter of its length. Such bending is accomplished without engagement of the primary bending rolls 25 with its extremities. The secondary bending rolls then begin their operation on the partially bent rod at the points where the primary rolls ceased and thereafter continuously' bend the end portions of the rod without actually engaging its extremities, until these arein contact. It is by this succession of operations that the parallelism of the abutting ends of the finished link is maintained and thel crushing, flattening or other deformation of the link is prevented.

I claim:

1. The combination in a link forming machine of a post; two sets of rod bending members; means for moving` one set of said members past the post to give a U-shape to a straight rod engaged thereby; and means for thereafter axially rotating the second set of members to cause their heads to bend the ends of the rod toward each other.

2. The combination in a link forming mal chine of a forming post; a slide; two rollers mounted on the slide in positions to coact with the post to bend a length of rod material into U-shaped form; a pair of axially rotatable, headed elements; and means for causing the heads of said elements to act upon the length of material after it has been given the U-shaped form to bend its ends toward each other.

3. The combination in a link forming machine of a post; a slide; two sets of rod bending members mounted on the slide to successively operate on a length of rod material held by the post; means for moving the slide toward and from the post; and

means for axially rotating the members of one of said sets to bend a portion of the rod around the post.

fl. The combination in a link forming machine of a post; a reciprocable slide; two rolls mounted on the slide in positions to pass on opposite sides of the post when the slide is moved in one direction, to give a v rod engaged by the post a substantially U- shaped form; with a set of rotary elements also carried by the slide having substantially straight walls Jfor engagement with the end portions of the material bent by said rolls; and means for turning said elements to cause the ends of said material to be bent around the post toward each other.

5. The combination in a link'forming machine vof a forming post; a slide; two rolls carried by the slide and movable `on opposite sides of the post to bend a rod into a U-shaped form; a pair of oscillatory spindles also carried by the slide having straight walls positioned for engagement with the end portions of the U-shaped structure formed by the rolls; and means for turning said spindles to bend said end portions of said structure around the post.

6. The combination in a link Jforming machine of a supporting structure having two guideways; slides movable in the guideways; means for reciprocating the slides; a forming post; a pair of rolls carried by one of the slides in positions to pass on opposite sides of said post; a pair of oscillatory spindles also carried by said latter slide and having portions for engagement with a length ofrod material after it has been partially bent around the post by said rolls;

and means for connecting said spindles with the second slide for causing their oscillation after they have been brought into coperative positions relatively to the partially formed length of material.

7. The combination in a link forming machine of a supporting structure having guideways; two `slides operative in said guideways; means for reciprocating the slides a head including a forming post; two rolls mounted on one of the slides in positions to coperate with the post to give a length of material a substantially U-shaped form; and two oscillatory spindles journaled in said slide and including portions having substantially Straight walls posi- Y tioned to engage the unaltered straight portions of the length of material after it has been acted on by said rolls; arms for said spindles; and links for connecting said arms to the second slide.

In witness whereof I aiiix my signature.

MARTIN O. REHFUSS. 

